Iraq Insurgents in First Attack on Korean Troops

Iraq Insurgents in First Attack on Korean Troops
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200505/200505300017.html
Korea's Zaytun Division in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil took cover late Sunday evening when four shells presumably fired by insurgents landed near the unit's base compound, the first direct attack on Korean troops since they were deployed to the area last September. There were no casualties among Korean soldiers or civilians, but the division's activity is likely to be curtailed for some time.
"At around 11:00 p.m., there were blasts and flames as two shells landed in wheat fields 500 m south of the Zaytun Division base walls, and two more shells fell in the wheat fields about 200 m south of the base five minutes later,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff said Monday.
Military authorities believe the blasts likely came from Soviet-made Katyusha rockets and 82 mm mortar shells.
A JCS official said, "Insurgent forces are presumed to have fled immediately after launching vehicle-carried rockets and mortars about 4-5 km away from the base walls." Kurdish militia forces have set up checkpoints and are patrolling the area 3-5 km outside the base walls.
Immediately after the incident, the Zaytun Division beefed up security and took shelter in underground entrenchments.
At 11:40 p.m., U.S. helicopters started searching the area.
The incident follows suspension of the Zaytun Division's civil operations after a May 4 car bombing of a police recruitment station in downtown Irbil and intelligence of possible attacks on Korean troops. Meanwhile, political controversy is also possible over whether to accept a UN request for Korean troops to guard an office of the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) being constructed in downtown Arbil.

I have been wondering how long the Koreans could stay in Iraq without getting some blood on their hands. War is a dirty business and I'm still shocked that this "squeaky clean" image has been holding up for the Zaytun unit. I'm guessing that the killing of a civilian a month back (actually the news broke in april but the shooting was months before)
http://www.ekurd.net/mismas/articles/misc2005/4/koreakurdistan2.htm
April 14, 2005 ㅡ Five months after an Iraqi Kurdish militiaman was accidentally shot by a South Korean soldier, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff made the incident public yesterday. According to an officer on the staff, on Dec. 7, a day before South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun paid a surprise visit to South Korean troops at their base near Irbil in nothern Iraq, a South Korean soldier, identified only by his last name Hong, mistakenly discharged his K-2 rifle and hit a Kurdish militiaman who was helping guard the South Korean compound.

The Korean soldier was apparently unaware that his rifle contained live ammunition. Depending on the security situation, South Korean soldiers carry live ammunition, but do not load it, or just carry rifles without ammunition. The soldier is serving an 18- month prison term for negligence. Compensation of $10,000 was paid to the family of the Kurdish man.